Apparatus for grinding and separating minerals



' f- F? 361%. 8, 1931. H. F. DUEBERT APPARATUS FOR GRINDING ANDSEPARATING MINERALS Filed June 13. 1.929

HERMAN F. DUBBERT.

ORNEY 4. INVENTOR Patented Sept. 8, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEHERMAN F. DUBIBERT, OF PORT CLINTON, OHIO, ASSIGNOB I O AMERICAN GYPSUMCOM.- IPANY, OF PORT CLINTON, OHIO, A. CORPORATION OF OHIO APPARATUS FORGRINDING- SEPARATING MINERALS Application filed June 13,

This invention relates to apparatus for grinding and separating mineralsand more particularly to apparatus adapted to pulverize the softermineral in an aggregate composed of particles of minerals of diiferenthardness and separate it from the rest of the ag egate.

ustave A. News United States patent application Serial No. 368,194,filed June 3, 1929 fully describes and claims a process of separatingminerals and my invention is espe'cially adapted to carry out thatprocess.

Among the objects of my invention are:

The provision of apparatus for agitating a mineral aggregate anddischarging the aggregate from the agitating apparatus to a separator.

The provision of apparatus adapted to cause rubbing action between theparticles of a mineral aggregate and to separate out the pulverized.particles of the aggregate after the rubbing action is ceased. I

The provision of a drum type" agitator through which minerals may passcontmuousl Tlie provision of apparatus for separating mineralscomprising .a rotatable agitating drum or shell through which theminerals to be separated may passcontinuously and be discharged to aseparatlng apparatus.

The provision of efiicient and economical apparatus for treatingminerals which consists of a rotatable drum having an opening at one endthrough which the mineralsmay be charged into the drum'while it rotatesand a plurality of peripheral openings at the opposite end of the drumthrough which the minerals may be discharged. a

The provision'of a new and improved apparatus for continuously agitatingand separating minerals.

These and other objects which will hereinafter appear may be attained byapparatus, one embodiment of which is described in this specificationand shown in the accompanying drawings in which Figure l is a sideelevation of one form of my invention.

50 Figure 2 is an end elevation taken on line 1929. Serial No. 370,478.

The base 1 carries upwardlyextending bearing supporting columns'2. Theshafts 3 and 4 are .rotatably mounted in suitable bearings, preferablyadapted to take both radial and thrust loads, which are held in place oncolumns 2 by bearing caps 5. It is desirable for purposes which will belater explained to have the axes of shafts ,3 and 4 disposed at a slightangle to the horizontal and this may be done by making the base 1thicker at one end than at the other as shown in Figure 1.

Flanged wheels 6 and 7 are keyed to'shaft 3 and flanged wheels 8 and 9are keyed to the shaft 4 in the same relative position. In additionto'the wheels 6 and 7, the sprocket 10 and driving gear 11 are keyed tothe shaft 3. The driving mot-0r 12 is mounted on the base 1 and isconnected to the shaft 3 by means of a chain 13 which runs over sprocket10 on the shaft 3 and sprocket 14 on the motor shaft.

The hollow cylindrical shell 15 may be made from a section of welded orriveted pipe or may be fabricated in any other desired manner. Thisshell 15 is supported on the flanged wheels 6, 7 8 and 9'by tire rings16 and 17, preferably made of steel, which are concentric with butradially spaced apart from the outer surface of shell 15. S acing blocks18 serve to hold the tires 16 an 17 in proper position relative to theshell 15. As shown in Figure 1, the tires 16 and 17 are of the sameoutside diameter and are spaced apart the same distance as are theflanged wheels 6 and 7 and 8 and 9. The flanges of the wheels 6 and 8are outside of the tire 16 and the flanges of the wheels 7 and 9 areoutside the tire 17. Thus there can be no apits longitudinal axis by thegears 11 and 19.

The weight of the shell is supported by the wheel 6, 7 8 and 9 and theonly load on the gears 11 and 19 is that required to drive the shell.

End plates 20 and 21 are shown welded to angle flanges 22 which areriveted to the outside of the shell 15 at its opposite ends; End

plate 20 has a charging aperture 23 at its center. The materials to bechar ed into the I rotatable drum formed by the shell 15 and end plates20 and 21 pass down the chute 24, which projects into the aperture 23and may be supported in any suitable manner, and 111* to the drumthrough the aperture 23. End

plate 21 has a plurality of elongated dis charge apertures 25 disposedaround the iiiner circumference of the shell 15 and adjacent thereto.The apertures 25 are elongated in a circumferential direction and arespaced close together so that they in effect form a slot which extendsaround the pe riphery of the discharge end of the shell 15.

As stated above the shafts 3 and 1 are supported at a slight angle tothe horizontal consequently the axis of the rotating drum will havethe'same angle. Thus as will be seen in Figure 1, the discharge end ofthe drum will be lower than the charging mud. The material which entersthrough the aperture in the plate 20 will be carried by the rotation ofthe drum to its lower end and will be discharged through the peripheralapertures 25 to the chute 26. The lower end of the chute 26 extends overthe screen 27 which may be pivot-ally supported on brackets 28. As shownin Figure 5, the screen 27 is mounted on trunnions 29 which are attachedto the sides 30 of the screen at points approximately midway betweentheir ends. It is desirable that the screen 27 be given a vibratarymovement to aid in the screening operation and this may be accomplishedby means of the eccentric 31 on the shaft 32. A spring 33 may beprovided to hold theedge of the side 30 of. the screen 27 in contactwith the eccentric 31. When the shaft 32 is rotated the action of theeccentric 31 on the side 30 of the screen 27 will cause the screen tovibrate. However, any other suitable means of cansing the screen 27 tovibrate may be used.

It may be found desirable to prr vide rubbing elements to assist in thetreatment of the materials which pass through the drum When the motor 12is runand I have shown a number of steel balls 34:. These balls have alarger diameter than the radial dimension of the apertures 25 andtherefore, they will be retained in the drum and not pass out with thematerial. It will be understood that any suitable means other than steelballs may be utilized for this purpose. i

The operation of my invention is as follows:

The minerals to be separated are charged into the rotating drum throughthe aperture 23 by means of the chute 24. They drop down on the shell15, are agitated by the rotation of the shell and caused to move towardsits discharge end by the angle of its axis. As the particles of mineralsare tumbled about in the shell they rub against each other and againstthe rubbing elements 34, if such are employed, and the particles ofsofter mineral are reduced in size by the abrasive action of theparticles of harder minerals and the rubbing elements. The speed ofrotation of the shell 15 and the angle at which its axis is disposed maybe so correlated that the ma terials charged into the drum will reachthe discharge end and pass out through the apertures 25 when the desiredamount of abrasive action has taken place.

As the discharge apertures 25 are disposed around the periphery of thedrum the mate rials which are charged into the aperture 23 will passthrough the drum in a continuous stream and the fine particles Will notcollect in the bottom of the drum as they would if the dischargeopenings were not at the periphery of the shell. This makes it possileto accurately control the reductionof size of the minerals which passthrough the apparatus as the particles all remain in the rotating drumsubstantially the same length of time and are subjected to uniformabrasive action.

Other forms of rotating mills with which I am familiar have theirdlscharge opening at the center of the discharge end of the drum andconsequently some of the materials remain in the drum a much longer timethan others and for this reason it is impossible to accurately controlthe reduction in size of the soft particles by the abrasive action ofthe harder particles.

When the mineral aggregate passes out through the discharge aperture 25it falls upon the chute 26 which conducts it to the vibrating screen 27.The fine soft mineral which has been reduced in size by abrasive actionhas it passed through the rotating drum, Wlll pass through the screeninto collecting box 35 while the larger particles of harder mineralswill remain on top of the screen.

From the above description it will be seen that my invention isparticularly adapted to cause rubbing action between the particles of amineral aggregate containing minerals of different hardness to reducethe size of the particles of the softer mineral so that they may beseparated from the aggregate by a 6 screen. or other separating means.ther uses of my invention will be evident to those skilled in the artand I do not limit myself to the specific form of apparatus shown anddescribed herein except as defined in the ap- 10 pended claims.

I claim l 1. Apparatus for causing relative movement between particlesof mineral aggregate com rising a cylindrical shell, means for 1'0- tataly supporting said shell with its longitudinal axis disposed at an angleto the hori- Zontal, means for rotating said shell about itslongitudinal axis, a cover plate adapted to extend across one end ofsaid cylindrical shell and having an aperture at its center throng:which said mineral aggregate may charged into said rotatable cylindricalshell and a cover plate adapted to extend across the other end of saidcylindrical shell and having a plurality of circumferentially spacedapart apertures disposed around its periphery but spaced radiallyinwardly from said shell, and through which said aggregate may bedischarged from said shell to a point completely removed from saidrotatable shell, the central portion of said last named cover platebeing imperforate.

2. In a rotatable rubbing mill, a cylindrical shell rotatably mountedwith its longitudinal axis at an angle to the horizontal, a cover plateat one end of said shell having a charging aperture at its center, acover plate at the other end of said shell having a discharge apertureat its outer edge adjacent said shell, the central portion of said lastnamed cover plate being imperforate, means {or feeding material intosaid shell through said char 'ng aperture and means for rotating said sell tocause said material to travel through said shell and be dischargedfrom said discharge aperture to a point completely removed from therotatable mill. In testimony whereof I hereunto, aflix my signature this10th day of June, 1929. HERMAN F. DUBBERT.

